From idyllic walks to swimming with sharks. Bahamas activities and attractions for everyone.
WELCOME BAHAMAS NASSAU - 2005 EDITION
When, if ever, you tire of laying around on the beach all day, shopping the length of Bay Street, gambling at a glitzy casino, dancing ’til dawn in a nightclub or dining at the fine restaurants around this historic little town, there’s still plenty left to do.
Top-quality excursions and once-in-a-lifetime thrills await you here, such as swimming with sharks, shaking fins with dolphins and speeding over crystal-clear waters in a powerful speedboat. On the idyllic side there are walking tours around Nassau, leisurely day and half-day sailing and motorboat trips to nearby cays where you can snorkel over pristine reefs, lunch al fresco on a sunny deck in the wilderness, explore beaches and trails or snooze the afternoon away in a hammock in the shade of whispering coconut palms.
For the more ambulatory there are plenty of things to see right here in Nassau: the Parliament Buildings at Rawson Square and Ardastra Gardens, Zoo & Conservation Centre off West Bay Street, about a mile from downtown Nassau.
Another place to check out Nassau’s flora and fauna is The Retreat, headquarters of the Bahamas National Trust, located on Village Road. Among other things, The Retreat boasts one of the world’s largest collections of rare and exotic palm trees. If birdwatching is your thing, BNT offers tours with accredited birding guides.
For something a little out of the ordinary, call ahead and you can take a tour of the Bahama Hand Prints factory on Ernest Street, behind the Outback Steakhouse on East Bay Street. There you can watch the fascinating transformation of plain cloth into colourful hand-printed fabrics.
To find out about the scores of excursions available and how and where to find them, check out the activities desk in your hotel lobby or consult the See & do section in this Welcome Bahamas book. You’ll find that the operators have made it easy for you to get to them. Many will pick you up and drop you back at your hotel as part of the package.
Swim with dolphins in The Bahamas
Ever had a hankering to swim with a dolphin? If so, this is the place and now is the time because Nassau boasts one of the premier swim-with-dolphins programmes in the world.
Dolphin Encounters, on nearby Blue Lagoon Island, is home to Atlantic bottlenose dolphins, ranging in age from a few weeks old at press time to more than 30, half of the mammals having been born and raised in the facility. Three of them are famous: Jake, Fatman and McGyver starred in the movie Flipper, along with Paul Hogan and Elija Wood.
The company, which is heavily involved in marine conservation, offers a 20-minute boat ride to and from the natural sea water habitat at Blue Lagoon. There are two programmes: "Swim with Dolphins" and what’s billed as a "Close Encounter." Both include a short, absorbing orientation session where you’ll find out, among other things, what a dolphin’s "melon," "rostrum" and "peduncle" are. Did you know, for example, that dolphins, with their amazing echolocation abilities, can detect the presence of a baby within a pregnant woman?
The 30-minute Swim with Dolphins programme is limited to 10 people at a time, guaranteeing lots of one-on-one interaction with the friendly animals. After the orientation, it’s into the water where you can touch, hug, dance with and kiss a dolphin. In one of the "behaviours," the dolphin speeds up behind you, leaping high into the air and gracefully re-entering the water in front of you. "You can feel the displacement of water, like a pulse against your body as the dolphin hurtles into the air," says Catherine, a recent visitor from Calgary, AB, Canada.
Highlight of the session is the "foot push" where the dolphins place their rostrums (jaw) against the soles of your feet and speed you through the water. Unfailingly, visitors emerge from the water with a smile after this adventure.
If the Swim with Dolphins programme sounds a bit too intense, sign up for the Close Encounter in which you’ll stand or kneel on a shallow underwater platform and the dolphins swim right up to you for a stroke or a bite to eat.
This is a popular excursion so book early. Some people reserve their spots six months in advance. However, there’s usually room for one or two more.
Fast trip to Exuma
One of the most memorable excursions you can take out of Nassau is a full-day trip to Saddleback Cay, a gorgeous little island about 40 miles southeast of New Providence in the fabled Exuma chain. Don’t forget the camera because you will see some of the most stunning scenery in The Bahamas.
Getting there is half the fun. Island World Adventures has two high-speed powerboats that leave every day at 9am (weather permitting) from the Paradise Island Ferry Terminal. They zip across the shallow, multi-hued waters at up to 50 mph. The trip takes about an hour, sometimes a little longer if the captain slows down to let you investigate a pod of dolphins cavorting in the shallow seas.
After an exhilarating ride, the boats plane around the southern end of Saddleback, speed past a deserted crescent beach, one of seven on this island, and glide gracefully to a dock on the northern coast.
You’ll be greeted on Saddleback by a hostess with a scrumptious breakfast including fruit, pastries and piping hot coffee. Later, there’s a hearty lunch of Bahamian fare, enjoyed al fresco on multi-level dining decks overlooking the water. Save your scraps, including chicken bones, to feed a variety of fish, such as sharks and weirdly shaped needle-nosed houndfish, from a feeding station set up for that purpose.
Perhaps you’ll want to relax on the beach and swim in the crystal-clear water, feed a friendly stingray, go on a guided nature hike or just explore Saddleback on your own. There’s plenty to see, including a fishing camp on one of the two hills that give Saddleback its name.
Later there’s a visit to an immaculate sandbar. This is a great place to take photos with the turquoise water as a backdrop. On the trip back to Nassau, there’s time for a snorkelling stop over a beautiful coral reef teeming with tropical fish, and then a stop at Leaf Cay where you’ll see scores of prehistoric looking but harmless Bahamian iguanas. These highly endangered reptiles come scurrying out of the bush across the sand to gobble up grapes, supplied by your friendly captain and crew.
Finally, there’s the trip back to civilization. If you’d like something to drink on the way, by the way – a soft drink, water, or a beer – you only have to ask.
Wrecks, sharks and walls
If you are a diver in The Bahamas, you’re in luck for three reasons: the great variety of dives available here, the superb clarity of the water, and the availability of Stuart Cove’s Dive Bahamas, which has a worldwide reputation as one of the best diving operations in the world.
Opened in 1978, the centre has a fleet of dive boats and an array of dives for all levels, from beginner all the way up to expert, including shipwrecks and a downed aircraft. In fact, Stuart Cove’s helped place four of the newest wrecks which are now slowly growing into coral reefs.
Diving on the sheer wall that forms an edge of the mile-deep Tongue of the Ocean is a special experience. It’s like swimming over a cliff that plunges down into a blue abyss. In the "wall flying" dive, experienced divers explore the wall at a speed of about 21⁄2 knots using underwater scooters. In this dive you’ll travel up to two miles underwater as a dive boat follows your bubbles.
Although a wall dive is offered only to experienced divers, Stuart Cove’s also offers a learn-to-dive course that will have you underwater in a day. This includes a pool lesson, rental of all the equipment you’ll need and an escorted shallow afternoon reef dive. If you’ve never done it, prepare to be amazed.
For maximum thrills, look into the Shark Adventure programme, which is a two-tank dive. On the first one enjoy a free swim with the sharks along a wall. On the second, a group of divers kneels on the bottom in a semi-circle while a professional shark feeder enters the water with a box of bait. The feeder pulls the bait fish out of the box, a little at a time, and the sharks circle in, taking turns at the bait in a quick but surprisingly organized fashion.
Stuart Cove’s also offers snorkelling trips over wrecks and reefs. Even visitors who can’t swim can still enjoy the spectacular underwater world aboard a SUB (scenic underwater bubble), a device that looks like a motorbike with a bubble on top. Fresh air is supplied by an on-board scuba tank. You can pilot your personal propulsion unit around a magnificent coral reef just 20 feet under the surface.
Face to face with fish
Another way to see the underwater world without getting wet is on the Seaworld Explorer, a large semi-submersible vessel that will put you face-to-face with The Bahamas’ spectacular marine environment.
Through your own observation window you’ll witness the splendour of Nassau’s Sea Gardens Marine Park at the eastern end of Paradise Island, and learn something of the delicacy and fragility of the ecosystem around coral formations from expert marine guides.
You’ll be face to face with barracudas and sharks that glide by your window so bring a camera!
Captain Craig & Rose Island
If you have time for only a half-day excursion, check out Flying Cloud, a 57-ft sailing catamaran that will whisk you away from the Ferry Terminal on Paradise Island on an exciting four-hour sail to and from nearby Rose Island, Monday through Saturday.
It is a magical feeling to cruise quietly through the turquoise waters at up to nine knots, soaking up the sunshine and listening to the wind in the sails and the waves splashing along the side.
This is a great opportunity to sunbathe and swim in the beautiful waters around Rose Island, a favourite getaway with white sandy beaches and a coast lined with great coral reefs that are perfect for underwater sightseeing.
Captain Craig and his crew will hand out free snorkelling gear and give you a quick lesson, if needed. These are some of the most magnificent underwater sites you can experience without diving gear.
On Sundays, join the crew for a full day of snorkelling, sunbathing, eating and drinking on Rose Island. The Flying Cloud offers barbecued ribs and chicken, peas ’n rice and fresh fruit, as well as a delicious rum punch – just the thing after a snorkelling expedition.
You can also take the catamaran on a 21⁄2-hour romantic evening cruise three nights a week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) and you can enjoy a dinner cruise by charter bookings only.
Sea Island Adventures
The history of Nassau is a colourful one, from the establishment of the first settlements in the 1600s to achieving independence from Britain in 1973. In between, Nassau was home to colonial officials, slave owners, pirates, gun runners, rum runners and traders in pineapples, sisal and sponges.
You can tap into this fascinating story on a special 11⁄2-hour harbour cruise offered by Sea Island Adventures, a veteran excursion company in Nassau. The Historical Sightseeing Cruise leaves from Woodes Rogers Walk at noon on Monday and returns by 1:30pm, leaving lots of time for other activities, such as shopping in the side streets, plazas and cul de sacs off Bay Street.
The tour itself is a carefully researched account of Bahamian history, narrated on a boat ride through the harbour.
Sea Island Adventures also offers a beautiful day trip (10am to 4pm) aboard the powered catamaran Fiesta II to nearby Rose Island. This is a relaxed excursion to a private beach with beach house (kitchen, washrooms, cash bar and souvenir shop) where, among other things, you can lunch al fresco on ribs, chicken, salads and native fruits, with a complimentary glass of white wine or fruit punch.
How to spend your day in the sun is up to you. You can just kick back on one of the most beautiful beaches anywhere, snooze in a hammock under a coconut tree or take advantage of the many toys and games available: kayaks, paddleboats, table tennis, basketball, volleyball and beach games. Just offshore are lovely reefs that you can explore with free snorkelling gear.
Sea Island Adventures offers two other cruises of note; a 31⁄2-hour snorkelling and beach escape, and, for lovers, a 21⁄2-hour evening cocktail cruise, during which you can enjoy the beauty of Nassau Harbour at dusk.
Getting married? Call Sea Island Adventures to help you plan the ceremony at the company’s private beach house. Want to host a cruise for your group? Sea Island Adventures can organize an evening beach barbecue, a dinner cruise, a snorkelling adventure or provide a quiet, peaceful getaway for business seminars.
Harbour Island & Andros
One trip that Bahamians enjoy as much as visitors do is the daily high-speed ferry trip to Harbour Island, Eleuthera. Bahamas Ferries offers a package that includes the trip to beautiful "Briland," as it’s known locally, a historical golf cart tour and plenty of time to enjoy the island’s pink sand beach. Other day-away trips are available to Spanish Wells and Andros.
Bahamas Ferries also provides transportation-only options to Eleuthera and Andros, as well as to Abaco and Exuma.
State-of-the-art catamarans
Seahorse Sailing Adventures offers daily morning and afternoon snorkelling trips and sunset cruises on state-of-the-art sailing catamarans, with equipment and instruction provided.
The company has three sleek sailing catamarans, 53, 63 and 65 feet long, which feature spacious covered bars and lounge areas that are perfect for buffet lunches or cocktails, all with professional captains and enthusiastic crews.
The 31⁄2-hour morning or afternoon snorkelling trips are inexpensive ways to discover the beauty of Bahamian waters and reefs. You can have this trip catered, if you wish, with a variety of menus to choose from.
Seahorse Sailing Adventures also offers cocktail, sunset and dinner cruises leaving from the Marina at Atlantis.
Disclaimer: The information in this article/release was accurate at
press time; however, we suggest you confirm all details and prices
directly with vendors.
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